This one is for the people who want something a bit different. Witchfire is not a mil-sim, it is not set in a war zone, and there are no other players anywhere near it. It is a brutally hard, strictly single-player dark-fantasy FPS that takes the extraction loop and welds it onto Souls-like combat, and it is made by a tiny nine person studio called The Astronauts, the team behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It is one of the most distinctive games in this whole space, and barely anyone talks about it, which is a shame, because it is doing something none of the big names are.
How the extraction loop actually works
The extraction angle is cleverer than it sounds. You head out into a perilous zone the game calls a Calamity. You fight, and killing enemies grows your powers and your arsenal. You scavenge loot as you go. Then comes the decision that makes it an extraction game: do you pull out now and bank what you have earned, or push deeper for greater rewards and risk losing the lot? Die, and you get a single one-time chance to reclaim what you dropped.
That single reclaim attempt is the whole tension in one mechanic. It is the same risk-versus-greed loop I love in the bigger extraction shooters, just wrapped in gothic horror and built entirely for one player. What Witchfire proves is that you do not need other humans to make an extraction game tense. The pressure a Tarkov gets from a sweaty stranger round the next corner, Witchfire gets from your own greed and a difficulty curve that will happily end your run. The stranger who ruins your extract, here, is you, when you push one room too far. If the thing you actually love about extraction games is the decision to leave or stay, and not the player-versus-player, this is that decision distilled.
The combat: hard, on purpose
The combat is the other half of the appeal. It is genuinely hard, in a deliberate, Souls-like way, built around a roguelite progression system the game calls Arcana. This is not a game you breeze through. It is a game you learn, run by run, getting a little further and a little stronger each time.
The Arcana system is what keeps that from being pure punishment. Because your power grows across runs, a wall that stopped you dead an hour ago becomes a place you push past with better tools and better knowledge, the roguelite hook that makes “die and try again” feel like progress rather than a slap. The gunplay itself is weighty and precise rather than spray-and-pray, which suits the deliberate tactical player far more than the twitch crowd. The story is kept light in Early Access, with a fuller narrative planned for the full release, so right now it is all about the moment-to-moment challenge, and that is strong enough to carry it.
It is doing well, and it deserves to
It is doing well, too, which it deserves. The big Reckoning update in December 2025 added the first melee weapons, new mini-bosses, a shooting range and bestiary, and it landed alongside the game crossing half a million sales. The shooting range and bestiary are small additions that tell you the team understands its own audience: a hard game gets a lot friendlier when you can practise a weapon and study an enemy before it is trying to kill you. On Steam it sits at Very Positive, with well over ninety percent of thousands of reviews positive. For a nine person team making a hard, single-player niche game, that is a brilliant result, and it is proof there is a real appetite for solo PvE that does not look like everything else.
The honest state of it
A bit of honesty on where it is at. Witchfire is still in Early Access, with 1.0 targeted for sometime in 2026 and at least one more major update expected first. So go in knowing it is not finished, and the full story and final polish are still to come. But what is there already is a complete, satisfying, properly challenging solo experience, which is more than a lot of finished games manage.
Who it is for, and who should skip it
Why I am flagging it for you is simple. If you love the extraction loop but you are tired of the same modern military settings, or you just want a genuinely hard single-player game with a real identity, Witchfire is unlike anything else I have recommended. It scratches the same itch from a completely different angle.
Who should skip it? If you specifically want the mil-sim fantasy, the ballistics and the plate carriers and the modern-day setting, this dark-fantasy detour is not for you. And if hard games frustrate rather than motivate you, the Souls-like difficulty will wear thin fast. Everyone else who wants tense, solo, single-player extraction with a real identity should give it a proper look.
For more solo PvE picks across the genre, I rounded up the best solo PvE extraction shooters to play right now, and the extraction shooter matcher will help you find your fit.
FAQ
Is Witchfire single-player?
Yes. It is strictly single-player with no other players anywhere near it, a dark-fantasy FPS that welds the extraction loop onto Souls-like combat.
How does the extraction loop work in Witchfire?
You head into a perilous zone called a Calamity, fight and scavenge, then decide whether to pull out and bank what you have earned or push deeper for greater rewards. Die and you get a single one-time chance to reclaim what you dropped.
Is Witchfire finished?
Not yet. It is still in Early Access with 1.0 targeted for sometime in 2026 and at least one more major update expected, though what is there already is a complete, challenging solo experience.
Who made Witchfire?
A tiny nine person studio called The Astronauts, the team behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. For a team that size making a hard, single-player niche game, crossing half a million sales is a brilliant result.
Is Witchfire a hard game?
Yes, deliberately so. The combat is genuinely hard in a Souls-like way, built around a roguelite progression system called Arcana. You learn it run by run, getting a little further and a little stronger each time.
Who is Witchfire for?
Anyone who loves the extraction loop but is tired of the same modern military settings, or who just wants a genuinely hard single-player game with a real identity. It scratches that itch from a completely different angle.